I am a scuba diver and my philosophy is pretty simple – any day where I get to go scuba diving is a good day in my book. So you can imagine that while road tripping through Alberta, I was looking forward to some pretty good days spent altitude diving high in the mountains.
The Canadian Rockies, with their awe-inspiring beauty and colossal peaks, stand as one of the world’s most mesmerising natural wonders sculpted millions of years ago. Renowned for their rugged wilderness and breathtaking vistas, these mountains beckon adventurers and nature enthusiasts alike. While the Rockies are famed for their iconic elk and formidable grizzlies, they also harbour a lesser-known treasure that awaits the intrepid explorer: crystal-clear alpine lakes. Glacial meltwater feeds into low-lying pockets in the mountain, creating pristine lakes which enhance the region’s beauty and for scuba divers offers a stark change to your run-of-the-mill underwater experience.
In Alberta, the Rockies stretch across the province’s western frontier. Within this rugged expanse lie three national parks—Banff, Jasper, and Waterton Lakes—each a sanctuary for the region’s unique flora and fauna. Spanning an astonishing 17, 280 square kilometres of Alberta’s Rocky Mountain range, Banff and Jasper National Parks are the crown jewels of the Parks Canada system and a tourism hotspot.
While crossing Alberta during a summer road trip to Canada’s Pacific coast, my husband Joey and I seized the opportunity to dive the serene turquoise waters of the Rocky Mountains. As adventure lovers and water gurus, we looked forward to uncovering the hidden world beneath the majestic surface of these sky high alpine lakes.
Our first destination was Jasper National Park, a realm of untamed beauty where some of North America’s rarest wildlife roams. Here, grizzlies, moose, caribou, and wolves wander freely in the mixedwood and coniferous forests, while the Columbia Icefields, one of the few icefields in the world accessible by road, cascade above. Guided by recommendations from the Alberta Underwater Council, we set our sights on diving in Beauvert, Annette, Edith, Patricia, and Horseshoe Lakes, but with limited time we only managed to dive two lakes.
Our two dives were done in Patricia and Edith Lakes, both fed by ancient glaciers and nestled at altitudes of 4,000 feet and 3,353 feet, respectively. The postcard-perfect sight of these glassy lakes encircled by snow-capped peaks was a breathtaking prelude to our underwater exploration. Given that we were diving at the tail end of summer the lakes were at their warmest hovering around 14°C, however given the glacier-fed nature of the lakes we still opted to stay snug and cozy in drysuits.
As we donned scuba gear and descended into the cold, tranquil lakes of Jasper National Park, it was like crossing a threshold into another world. The water’s clarity was nothing short of bewitching, as if the very air had been transformed into liquid crystal. Sunlight streamed through the glacial water, piercing the depths with golden beams that danced on the lakebed. The rays illuminated a palette of blue and green hues in a striking display. The visibility was so astonishingly clear that it almost made you dizzy, revealing every detail of the underwater landscape in sharp focus.
Though the fish life in Patricia and Edith Lakes was sparse, we occasionally spotted tiny creatures skittering across the sunlit floor, their movements casting delicate shadows on the shimmering surface. Edith definitely had a more comprehensive array of plant and animal life. The sandy benthos were carpeted in green vegetation and a small school of white suckers gave us a fleeting show.
Beyond the wildlife, we also noticed questionable patches of bubbling sediment on the bottom of both lakes. I later discovered that this was likely glacial meltwater feeding these lakes through hidden sand and silt cavities—a quiet yet powerful reminder of the force shaping this otherworldly environment.
The two alpine lakes we had the opportunity to dive in Jasper were nothing short of spectacular, but one of our few regrets was missing the chance to dive Patricia Lake’s best-kept secret—the Habbakuk wreck. Project Habbakuk or Habakkuk (spelling varies) was a top-secret World War II initiative to construct an aircraft carrier from pykrete (a mixture of wood pulp and ice). A 18 by 9-metre (60 by 30-foot) prototype was built and tested here, under advisement of scientist Geoffrey Pyke. The project was eventually abandoned due to costs, requirements and availability but the sunken remains of the model still lie beneath Patricia’s glassy surface, a fascinating relic from 1943.
On our way back from our Pacific coast journey a few weeks later, we made our way to Banff National Park, where our next series of dives would ensue. The dive site we would be exploring was the expansive Lake Minnewanka, known to the Stoney Nakoda First Nations as Minn-waki or “Lake of the Spirits,”. This 21 kilometre-long (13-mile), 142-metre-deep (465-foot) lake, perched at an altitude of 1372-metres (4,500 feet), provides Banff with hydroelectric power and conceals a wealth of submerged history.
Lake Minnewanka boasts two main dive sites: the old townsite of Minnewanka Landing, accessible by boat, and the remains of a hydro dam, reachable from shore. The lake was first dammed in 1895 to improve its boggy shoreline for boating, and later in 1912 by Calgary Power Co. to power a downstream hydroelectric plant on the Cascade River. This second damming flooded much of the Minnewanka Landing townsite. A final dam, in 1941, raised the water levels by 30 metres (100 feet), submerging the remaining Minnewanka Landing townsite and the old hydro dams.
Given that boat charters to the old townsite were not in the cards for us during the short timeframe we were in Banff, Joey and I focused our efforts instead on diving the flooded hydro dam over two dives. Although glacier lakes are known for their clarity, summer plankton blooms can sometimes cause water turbidity. Lake Minnewanka is known for poor visibility in summer and we were a little worried that the impeccably gin-clear waters of Jasper had spoiled our taste for alpine diving.
Dressed in drysuits we waddled from the parking lot down to the boat ramp – a fair hike in and of itself without the added 32 kilograms (70 lbs) of scuba gear. Needless to say I had beads of sweat forming on my brow by the time I was waist deep in the water doing my final checks. Below the choppy water line I was pleased to see that visibility was remarkably clear. In my eyes Jasper was still superior in water clarity but Minnewanka was still pretty impressive.
As we explored the azure waters we found flickers of silvery baitfish in the sandy shallows weaving into sprigs of silt covered plants. Finding remnants of the lake’s industrial past we followed a long concrete foundation from the 1912 construction. We discovered parts of the concrete dam and intake pipe, as well as a massive generating station with open voids that I was told experienced divers can enter. While not as thrilling as exploring the sunken town by boat would have been, uncovering the remnants of the hydro dam offered a fascinating glimpse into Lake Minnewanka’s hidden history.
Our scuba diving adventure in the Canadian Rockies was nothing short of extraordinary. From the crystalline waters of Jasper’s alpine lakes, to the submerged town of Banff’s Lake Minnewanka, each dive offered a unique and unforgettable glimpse into the hidden world beneath these mountains. The breathtaking clarity of Jasper’s glacial lakes set a high bar, but even in the depths of Minnewanka, we found echoes of a past long submerged, waiting to be discovered by those willing to explore. As we surfaced from our final dive, the mountains towering above and the memories of our underwater journey lingering like the cool mountain air, it was clear that the Rockies had given us something truly special. Whether it’s the serene beauty, the historic mysteries, or simply the thrill of the dive, the Canadian Rockies offer a scuba experience that’s as majestic as the peaks that rise above them.
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